Menheniot Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have a strong sense of belonging. They arrive happy and eager to come in and play. Children feel safe and secure. They tell staff, 'I love you', and form positive relationships with their friends. Children love to snuggle up on cushions and listen to stories. Leaders further this interest and make 'story sacks' for children to take home and share with their families. Children record what they like about the storybook or non-fiction book. They draw a picture about the book and show staff when they bring it back. Following this experience, staff notice children choose to look at books more frequently.

There is an ambitious curriculum in place. Leaders and staff use their knowledge of what children know and can do and need to learn next effectively. They provide activities to extend children's learning. For example, staff identify that some pre-school-age children need to strengthen their knowledge of numbers. They challenge these children to build a pathway using guttering for water to flow down into a bucket. The children place pretend bricks as pillars underneath the guttering to hold it up. They count how many pretend bricks they need and adjust them accordingly to ensure the water flows downwards. Staff strengthen children's counting skills. They count the number of pretend bricks with the children and ask how many more or less they need.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Toddlers and pre-school-age children develop their finger dexterity and make dough together. They sieve out ingredients and weigh them. Pre-school-age children place balls of dough into the scales. They compare which are the heaviest or lightest. Toddlers are curious and mix the flour with water. They use their spoons to transfer flour from one bowl to another. Staff encourage pre-school-age children to be independent and look at the visual instruction booklet. These children follow the instructions and work cooperatively to make the dough into the right consistency.
• Staff help to minimise disagreements between children by teaching them strategies to share. For example, if more than one child wants the same toy, staff use the 'bag of destiny' to help children solve who can play with the toy first. The children place a picture of their face into the bag and give it a shake. The face that comes out is the child who will play with the toy first. Staff teach children about fairness and turn-taking.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) effectively. They work closely with other professionals and local schools to ensure a smooth transition when children move on to their next stage of education. Staff implement strategies to support children with SEND to understand the daily routine. For example, staff use 'now and next boards' so children know what is coming next. The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator shares these strategies with parents, so children become more aware of what the visual cues on the boards mean.
• Parents comment highly on the nurturing relationships their children have with staff. They value the community ethos and the outings the children go on in the village. Parents state that their children want to 'come to playgroup every day'. Staff share the children's next steps of development with parents via a digital app. Parents welcome advice and suggestions from staff on how to further their children's learning at home.
• Staff read a book about emotions with children. They talk with them about how the characters are feeling. Children show good listening skills. However, at other times, staff do not strengthen children's communication and language skills so children can hear and learn more new words. For example, sometimes staff speak very quickly to children and use long and complex sentences with them. When this happens, children are not always able to understand and acknowledge what staff say to further support their vocabulary.
• Leaders work in close partnership with other settings the children attend. They visit the other settings and share information with key persons about children's preferred ways of learning. Leaders share strategies on what works best for children. This ensures consistency of teaching. As a result, leaders observe that children make more progress in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff knowledge further in how to strengthen children's communication and language skills so children can hear and learn more new words.